Libya Yet to Decide on Financial Aid to Egypt, Premier Says

March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Libya has yet to decide on
providing financial aid to Egypt, Prime Minister Ali Zaidan
said, stressing relations between the North African neighbors
were good.

According to reports this week, Libya deposited $2 billion
in the cash-strapped nation’s Central Bank as its government
detained and moved to extradite Muammar Qaddafi-era regime
figures. While the deposit has been discussed, it “hasn’t been
decided,” Zaidan told reporters in the Qatari capital, Doha.

Egyptian authorities said on March 19 that they arrested
Ahmed Qaddaf al-Dam, a cousin of Qaddafi, on an Interpol
warrant. Two other Libyans, including the oil-rich nation’s
former ambassador to Egypt, were also taken into custody.

“The matter of handing over those who are in Cairo, that’s
a matter that has been brought up and the relations are
continuing,” Zaidan said. “Relations with Egypt are good.”

Egypt has been struggling to recover from the aftershocks
of the 2011 uprising that pushed Hosni Mubarak from power. The
revolution battered the economy, leaving it with its slowest
growth in two decades, a weakening currency, dwindling foreign
reserves and a political polarization pitting Islamists against
secularists. The government is trying secure a $4.8 billion
International Monetary Fund loan, and has received loans,
deposits and other aid from other nations, including Qatar.

Zaidan, who has himself been struggling to restore order in
a country wracked by violence and instability since Qaddafi’s
ouster and killing, said he hoped difficulties in disarming
various groups would be resolved within “months.” He also said
a new draft energy law had yet to be drawn up, and that
elections may take “a long time to happen.”

The main task of Zaidan’s government is to oversee the
drafting of a constitution and organize elections for a
permanent government, a process that has been beset by delays.